El Tesoro is a brand of tequila produced at a distillery in Jalisco, Mexico, where the family that founded the distillery is still involved in the business. In the United States, the brand is marketed by Beam Inc.. The producer claims to use labor-intensive traditional methods for making the tequila.
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Don Felipe Camarena was an agave grower who was raised in a family that had previously been making tequila in the Mexican state of Jalisco since the early 1800s. However, after 50 years of producing tequila, the family's distillery had been destroyed during the Mexican revolution of 1910.
Camarena started out by growing and selling agave plants to other distillers, and then in 1937 he opened La Alteña Distillery in Jalisco, 20 miles away from the previous family distillery. His distillery was located near a blue agave growing area and near hot springs which served as a consistent source of energy. Camarena then passed the business on to his son, Felipe J. Camarena Orozco, who then passed it on to his daughters and to his son Carlos Camarena, who is now the third generation of Master Distiller for the distillery.
The actual brand El Tesoro de Don Felipe began as the product of a joint venture established in 1990 between the Camarena family and the premium tequila promoters Robert J. Denton and Marilyn S. Smith.
Somehow, the Fortune Brands holding company ended up owning the distillery, or perhaps only some marketing rights to the El Tesoro brand tequila that it produces. In October 2011, Fortune Brands divested itself of its various businesses that were unrelated to spirits, and changed the name of its remaining enterprise to Beam Inc..
El Tesoro Platinum
El Tesoro Reposado
El Tesoro Anejo
El Tesoro Paradiso
El Tesoro Aniversario
Notable spirit ratings for El Tesoro offerings include:[1]
El Tesoro Platinum • San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2008: Double Gold
• Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition 2007: Gold
• San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2005: Double Gold
• San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2004: Silver
• San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2003: Silver
El Tesoro Reposado • San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2008: Double Gold
• 2007 Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition "Best Tequila of the Competition" [2]
• San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2007: Gold
• San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2005: Double Gold
• San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2004: Best of Show
El Tesoro Anejo
• San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2008: Silver
• 2007 Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition Gold
• San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2007: Gold
• San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2005: Double Gold
• San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2004: Double Gold
• San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2003: Gold
• Proof66 scores the anejo as its highest-rated tequila [3]
El Tesoro Paradiso
• San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2008: Silver
• San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2007: Double Gold
• San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2005: Double Gold
• San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2004: Silver